SOMERSET — Early Friday evening, when Principal Jahmal Mosley looked out at the young men and women in their blue-and-white gowns seated near the 50-yard line of Somerset Berkley Regional High School's new turf football field, he likened the view to “a Norman Rockwell painting.”

A crowd of family members, friends and community supporters packed the bleachers and fences behind them, and the nearly completed new regional high school building towered before them.

Mosley said it was not just the achievements of the 216 graduates that struck him. The ceremony was framed by picturesque blue skies, allowing the first regional high school graduation on the new emerald green turf. The scoreboard timer in the distance showed 20:14 in red. Recent years had seen Raiders graduations held indoors.

“I am impressed by what you do as a collective group,” said Mosley, finishing his third year at the school and departing in a few weeks to be assistant superintendent in Sharon.

He pointed to attributes he’s noticed in the Class of 2014: faithfulness, integrity, courage, commitment and service before self. This is the first class to complete the 20 hours of required community service through high school, he remarked.

He asked a handful of students to stand. They wouldn't be attending college next year, he said, because they’ll be serving in the military. They garnered some of the loudest applause.

“Do something that makes you passionate,” the principal told them.

Class of 2014 Valedictorian Kara Botelho shared inspiration through the metaphor of “clinging creatures in the crystal river” from Richard Bach’s book “Illusions.”

It presented a plea not to be afraid, to be daring, to let the river current carry graduates to promising futures, through bumps, bruises and all.

In the story, one creature lets go from the others clinging to the twigs and rocks at the bottom. “The river delights to lift us free. … Our true work is this voyage, this adventure,” Botelho said an excerpt.

“Whether your future life involves going to Dartmouth College, BCC, the military, right into the work force or even moving out to Colorado to go skiing, as long as you are happy and successful in what you choose, you have used the river to its full potential,” Botelho said.

She said Somerset Berkley gave them “the building blocks for success,” while saying it was fitting “that the school is coming down as we are leaving.”

Naturally, firsts and lasts of this graduating class, leaving a high school built in 1936, was not forgotten.

Class President Sean Sullivan used his bold humor to needle and praise.

He recalled indoor basketball games canceled when rain leaked through ceilings and wishing he had a dollar for each time the bell system failed — he said he could have bought a Porche with the bounty.

Page 2 of 2 - “We’re the last class to leave the old school. Not only that, but we’ll be the first to miss out on the new one,” Sullivan said.

But there’s been a purpose to it all, he said.

“This building was an amazing practice ground for the real world,” Sullivan said. By ignoring years of fluke bells and barrels in the halls, “we’ll be able to overcome obstacles in real-life scenarios.”

He also urged classmates to be bold.

“You can’t score if you don’t shoot,” he said.

Sullivan and Botelho saluted two classmates having double celebrations: Hailey Hastings and Navjot Sidhu were celebrating their birthdays. Their classmates sang to them.

At the third commencement of Somerset Berkley, salutatorian Zachary Estrella recalled the universal childhood question of, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

What was harmless then is a bit intimidating now, he said. While challenges like riding the Bizarro roller coaster at Six Flags made him feel small and insignificant, he’s seen that men and women “who were once like me” built it.

“People are awesome and do awesome things. We are not small, nor are we insignificant,” Estrella said.